Frank Smith Horne (1899 - abt. 1974)

Born 18 Aug 1899 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

Ancestors

Died about 7 Sep 1974 at about age 75 in New York City, New York, United States

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Biography

Frank Horne is Notable.

Frank Horne was an American lyricist, poet, and government official who was an influential figure in the Harlem Renaissance. He was a member of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Black Cabinet" where he served as Assistant Director of the Division of Negro Affairs, National Youth Administration. Later, Horne worked for the Housing and Home Finance Agency and helped to found the National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing (NCDH). Throughout his public career, including his years with the U.S. Housing Authority, Horne was an outspoken opponent of racial segregation in public and private housing.

Frank Smith Horne was born in Brooklyn, New York on August 18, 1899 to Edwin Horne and Cora Calhoun,^[1] prominent members of middle class black New York and the early members of the NAACP.

Horne graduated from City College of New York in 1921 and received a doctor of optometry degree from Northern Illinois College of Ophthalmology and Otology in 1923. Horne returned to New York and opened a practice in Harlem as an eye doctor.

In 1925, Horne received second place in the Amy Spingarn Literary Award contest for his "Letters Found Near a Suicide." The poem was published in the NAACP's Crisis magazine and later included in Alain Locke's New Negro anthology of the Harlem Renaissance. Other Horne poems would be collected in the anthology, Haverstraw which appeared in 1963. Horne also wrote reviews for the Urban League's Opportunity magazine.

In 1927, Frank Horne went to Georgia to become the Dean and later President at Fort Valley High and Industrial School (which subsequently became Fort Valley State College in 1939). During this time he married Frankye Bunn.^[2] Horne, the uncle of actress Lena Horne, briefly served as her guardian when she began her film career.

In 1936, Horne took the first of a series of government appointments when he was recruited to Washington, D.C., by Mary McLeod Bethune as assistant director of the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration (NYA). In 1938, he began work for the U.S. Housing Authority on minority housing issues and eventually became Director of the Office of Race Relations. During this time he advised the FDR administration on racism in public housing, project planning, labor employment in housing construction, management, and public policies. He continued with the U.S. Housing Authority until 1955. In 1956, Horne became the Executive Director for the New York City Commission on Intergroup Relations which the following year developed the nation's first laws against discrimination in public housing. Horne also introduced the Open City Housing Project to promote racially integrated neighborhoods. In 1962 Horne became a member of the New York City Housing Redevelopment Board and also founded the National Committee against Discrimination in Housing.

By 1974, after much ongoing suffering throughout his life, Dr. Frank Horne died from complications of arteriosclerosis on September 7, 1974 in New York City.^[3][4] He is buried at The Evergreens Cemetery in Brooklyn.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ "New York, New York City Births, 1846-1909," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WW8-V39 : 11 February 2018), Frank Horne, 18 Aug 1899; citing Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, reference cn 32567 New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,953,537.
2. ↑ "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1940," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:248J-N8Z : 10 February 2018), Frank S. Horne and Frankye Bunn, 19 Aug 1930; citing Marriage, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York City Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,665,867.
3. ↑ "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VMNB-Z2X : 7 January 2021), Frank Horne, Sep 1974; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing)
4. ↑ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78773838/frank-horne-obit-1974/
5. ↑ "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV2N-SCG2 : 15 December 2020), Frank Smith Horne, ; Burial, Brooklyn, Kings (Brooklyn), New York, United States of America, The Evergreens Cemetery; citing record ID 72989456, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.

• "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MS23-BPN : accessed 2 June 2021), Frank Horne in household of Edwin F Horne, Borough of Manhattan, Election District 18 New York City Ward 34, New York County, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 964, sheet 3B, family 81, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,241,124.
• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M54C-PK8 : accessed 2 June 2021), Francis Horne in household of Edwin F Horne, Brooklyn Ward 25, Kings, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 702, sheet 10A, family 225, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 973; FHL microfilm 1,374,986.
• "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MJ5C-XLF : 2 February 2021), Frank S Horne in entry for Edwin F Horne, 1920.
• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:3HN7-PT2 : accessed 2 June 2021), Frank S Horne in household of Henry A Hunt, Fort Valley, Peach, Georgia, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 2, sheet , line , family , NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll ; FHL microfilm .

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Smith_Horne
• https://www.loc.gov/folklife/civilrights/survey/view_collection.php?coll_id=2008

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena_Horne